Struggling secondary spells loss for Texans again

Doomsday, in a manner of speakingSecondary spells the end for Texans again

DALE ROBERTSON, Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Monday, November 22, 2010

Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle

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Texans linebacker Brian Cushing (56) forces Jets running back Shonn Greene to fumble in the fourth quarter. The Texans scored immediately after the turnover, but the defense was unable to stop Mark Sanchez and Co. on the game-winning drive. less

Texans linebacker Brian Cushing (56) forces Jets running back Shonn Greene to fumble in the fourth quarter. The Texans scored immediately after the turnover, but the defense was unable to stop Mark Sanchez and ... more

Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle

Struggling secondary spells loss for Texans again

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Don't try to sugarcoat it, Texans strong safety Bernard Pollard insisted Sunday evening, and he most assuredly didn't after the Texans had thrown away another winnable game in the final seconds, this time to the New York Jets.

"We continue to make the dumbest mistakes," Pollard fumed. "That's the story of our life right now. It's beyond getting out of hand. … This is ridiculous. We should not be leaving this place with a loss.

"Games like this, it's what defenses want to be in. You want this on your back. You want your teammates to say, 'Go out there and bring this thing home.' But I wouldn't be surprised if our offense looked at us and said, 'Oh, Lord, our defense is on the field.' "

The Texans were 49 seconds from securing what might have been a season-saving victory on the road over a team that's now an NFL-best 8-2. But they let the Jets go 72 yards in 39 seconds for a 30-27 victory that negated a remarkable 20-point fourth-quarter offensive revival.

The flummoxed visitors were left to swallow another most bitter pill and a fourth consecutive defeat. At 4-6, they can forget about the playoffs, unless they choose to remember the Jets had the same record a year ago and reached the AFC Championship Game.

"In situations like that," Pollard said of the game's final, fatal series, "you have to play perfect. Your offense, your special teams, your coaches, they're only asking you to play perfect for 49 seconds. How in God's name can we not get that done?"

Here's how

Beaten by a last-play Hail Mary pass in Jacksonville a week earlier, the Texans essentially let the same thing happen again when Mark Sanchez closed with four rapid-fire completions - his only incompletion was a deliberate spike - that included a 42-yarder to Braylon Edwards to the Houston 6, a play on which both Eugene Wilson and the recently acquired Jason Allen were caught horribly out of position.

The free safety Wilson, having literally headed in the wrong direction away from the ball, gave himself no time to recover and provide the help Allen was expecting. But Allen, recently released by the Miami Dolphins, was playing to the inside of Edwards, making it easy for the Jets wide receiver to slip out of bounds and, adding insult to insult, stop the clock.

Allen was no less confused later, saying "we'll have to look at the film" to find out what went wrong. Wilson, for his part, waved off an interview request as he left the locker room.

One play later, Santonio Holmes slipped behind corner Glover Quin in the left corner of the end zone to cradle the game-winner from a jubilant Sanchez. Holmes admitted he was "licking his lips" when that call came into the huddle.

It was Quin, of course, who became the unwitting goat in Jacksonville after batting a David Garrard pass straight into Mike Thomas' hands for the Jaguars' clincher as the clock expired. Quin had said that was the worst he'd ever felt on a football field. How did this feel?

"The same," he replied.

A lineman's lament

The Texans were in an all-out blitz on Holmes' touchdown, seemingly conceding that was their only chance to prevent the inevitable. Defensive end Antonio Smith, one of a number of Texans up front who did a laudable job of keeping the pressure on Sanchez all afternoon, refused to blame any of his secondary mates for their more obvious failings because he said he hadn't done his job, either.

Specifically, Smith conceded he should have sacked Sanchez and possibly even knocked the ball loose before the erratic second-year quarterback ever had a chance to exploit Wilson and Allen on the bomb to Edwards.

"All I can do is look back on myself," Smith said. "The deep pass should have never happened. (I) beat a guy scot-free. It seems like the tale of my career - beat a guy scot-free and can't make the sack. (If) I made that sack - he has the ball swinging all out - and cause the fumble, we don't even have to play for that last play in the end zone."

Mario Williams, the other defensive end, seconded Smith's assessment by saying, "We've got to get the quarterback down." But, he added, "We've got to cover at the end, too. Sometimes I think we just don't realize where we are in the game."

Despite falling on a fumble and making an interception in the fourth quarter, middle linebacker Kevin Bentley still said he "felt like crying" watching the Jets celebrate. Asked if he could take any solace from the improvement the Texans defense had shown at least until the last series, Bentley frowned.

"We should have won that game," he said. "I don't know what's going on, luck-wise or execution-wise. But did it represent progress? No. Progress is winning."